I. Field
The present invention relates generally to delivery of streaming data over a wireless communication system, and more specifically, to transmission of multimedia data over a wireless communication system.
II. Background
Demand for the delivery of multimedia data over various communication networks is increasing. For example, consumers desire the delivery of streaming video over various communication channels, such as the Internet, wire-line and radio networks. Multimedia data can be different formats and data rates, and the various communication networks use different mechanisms for transmission of real time data over their respective communication channels.
One type of communication network that has become commonplace is mobile radio networks for wireless communications. Wireless communication systems have many applications including, for example, cellular telephones, paging, wireless local loops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), Internet telephony, and satellite communication systems. A particularly important application is cellular telephone systems for mobile subscribers. As used herein, the term “cellular” system encompasses both cellular and personal communications services (PCS) frequencies. Various over-the-air interfaces have been developed for such cellular telephone systems including frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), and code division multiple access (CDMA).
Different domestic and international standards have been established to support the various air interfaces including, for example, Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS), Global System for Mobile (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95) and its derivatives, IS-95A, IS-95B, ANSI J-STD-008 (often referred to collectively herein as IS-95), and emerging high-data-rate systems such as cdma 2000, Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), and others. These standards are promulgated by the Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA), 3rd Generation partnership Project (3GPP), European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI), and other well-known standards bodies.
Users, or customers, of mobile radio networks, such as cellular telephone networks, would like to receive streaming media such as video, multimedia, and Internet Protocol (IP) over a wireless communication link. For example, customers desire to be able to receive streaming video, such as a teleconference or television broadcasts, on their cell phone or other portable wireless communication device. Other examples of the type of data that customers desire to receive with their wireless communication device include multimedia multicast/broadcast and Internet access.
A protocol that provides a mechanism to stream real time data over an IP network is the real-time transport protocol (RTP). RTP is a flexible protocol for transmitting real time data, such as audio and video over an IP network. It is desirable to use RTP to stream real-time data to wireless communication devices.
Typically, in RTP, streaming data is encoded into data packets. The RTP data packets include routing and sequencing information appended to each packet. The appended routing and sequencing information is commonly referred to as a header. Due to the limited resources available in a wireless communication system, such as limited bandwidth, it is desirable to reduce the amount of data that is transmitted.
Thus, there is therefore a need in the art for techniques and apparatus that can reduce the amount of data that is transmitted in a wireless communication system during the transmission of streaming data, such as multimedia data and VoIP.